Obama nominates Chuck Hagel, John Brennan for national security team

President Barack Obama filled out his second term national security team Monday by tapping former Sen. Chuck Hagel to lead the Defense Department and John Brennan as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The nominations, unveiled in a White House ceremony, came despite weeks of controversy surrounding Hagel’s expected appointment.

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Obama nominates Hagel for Sec. Defense, Brennan for CIA head

Photos: Chuck Hagel's career

Photos: John Brennan's career

While the Nebraska Republican once served with many of the senators who will preside over his confirmation, his controversial views on the Middle East and apparent support for cutting the Pentagon’s budget have already become issues for his confirmation. Assuming he makes it through the confirmation process, Hagel will immediately be drawn into a brutal fiscal battle over the automatic defense cuts known as the sequester, and a longer term political fights over the proper size of the Defense budget in the post Iraq and Afghanistan era.

Still, Obama isn’t backing down from a political battle over Hagel, a friend and traveling companion during their Senate days and a first term administration adviser on foreign policy and defense issues. In rolling out the nomination at the White House, Obama cited Hagel’s political independence and distinguished military service record as reasons why he should become the first Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient to lead the Pentagon.

“Chuck Hagel is the leader that our troops deserve. He is an American patriot. He enlisted in our Army, volunteered for Vietnam, and first as a private, then as a sergeant, he served with honor alongside his own brother,” Obama said, his first public remarks since returning from his Hawaii family vacation this weekend.

Obama said Hagel’s leadership would be “historic” as the first Vietnam vet and wounded former enlisted soldier to run the Defense Department, and would make him “a champion for our troops,” praising his focus on “the guys at the bottom.”

As for Brennan, Obama called him “one of our most skilled and respected intelligence professionals” and praised his “invaluable perspective” on “what drives so much of the changes in today’s world.” In praising Brennan’s work ethic, Obama joked, “I’m not sure he’s slept in four years.”

Criticism of the Hagel appointment has only gotten louder since word surfaced in early December that he was a front-runner for the job to replace outgoing Secretary Leon Panetta. An unusual mix of pro-Israel groups, neo-conservatives and gay rights activists have slammed the former senator’s voting record and past statements, including a 2006 reference to a “Jewish lobby” and disparaging remarks from 1998 about James Hormel, an openly gay nominee to be President Bill Clinton’s U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg.

While Hagel's allies have tried to explain his views about Israel and he issued an unusual apology last month to Hormel, full-page newspaper ads and cable TV commercials have been running for weeks arguing he's still the wrong pick for the Defense Department. Opponents even launched a new anti-Hagel website on Monday in ChuckHagel.com.

Hagel attempted to even the score through an unusual interview Monday in the Lincoln, Neb. Journal-Star newspaper, in which he called the preemptive criticism of his record “astounding,” and said he looks forward to a full opportunity to respond in his upcoming confirmation hearings. Presidential nominees seldom speak publicly before they appear before Senate committees.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised Hagel will get a fair hearing, but some of his opponents are already promising to vote no. Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) told POLITICO before the nomination was official that Hagel’s stance on Iran, Israel and Hamas “disqualify him for such an important job where America needs to lead and not just follow.”

Senate Armed Services Committee member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Monday that he’s “strongly opposed” to Hagel’s nomination because of his opposition to imposing sanctions on Iran and positions on the Middle East and Israel that are “contrary to the administration’s own stated policies.”

Readers' Comments (44)

As shown below, the Pentagon overtly reveals its interest in Professosr Debarros's activity and my comments. Here is the link followed by the site meter entry by Pentagon's global torturers & assassins: http://the-telescope.com/2011/...' title='

As shown below, the Pentagon overtly reveals its interest in Professosr Debarros's activity and my comments. Here is the link followed by the site meter entry by Pentagon's global torturers & assassins: http://the-telescope.com/2011/...' title='

Just to say Jewish Lobby is not a SIN. The fact is that the Jewish Lobbies are existing and are very powerful and many of the Senate and Congress members are fully associated with them, and finally, these lobbies work for the interest of Israel alone. If Chuck Hagel has revealed the fact, he should be discredited? If that happens, the world will find out, how powerful is the Jewish Lobby in America.

The Republicans still haven't figured out that Americans are sick and tired of their obstruction. Their one and only priority seems to be to thwart President Obama, whether it's his judicial and cabinet nominations or his work on the budget.

If the GOP would stop protecting the rich from taxes and business regulations, our economy would be a lot stronger, something they pretend to want. However, they know that the only way they can win in 2014 is to wreck the economy and try to blame it on the Democrats. Americans are on to this strategy, despite the Republicans' belief that their propaganda can convince us of anything they choose.

Samuelsohn omits the important fact that Hormel himself on Facebook said he would support Hagel as Secretary of Defense. He said Hagel had made a clear apology and that opinion had changed in 14 years. Of course that information will also be omitted from the anti-Hagel website Samuelsohn advertises in his article.

The opposition to Hagel is 99% political nonsense. Republicans are desperately seeking issues on which they can get some traction as their political success rate over the past couple of years has been disastrous.

Goodness gracious. Why not have a hearing first before condemning the guy? Let's find out what his current views are. He referred to a "Jewish lobby"? That's it? So folks cant refer to lobbyists any longer or they cant serve in the executive branch? His now repudiated statement that he apologized for regarding the gay official is from another era (before Obama's terms that has contributed significantly to moving the country forward on that). There is currently nothing of substance that disqualifies him.

I'm not used to defending much of anything that Obama does, but these appointments are to my liking, especially Hagel.

First, the president should be given wide discretion in who he appoints to his cabinet. Absent some serious ethical problem, or some other obvious disqualifying trait, the president's choices should be confirmed. I haven't heard anything about either of these gentlemen which would disqualify them from serving.

What we have heard is grumbling and complaining from the usual suspects consisting in this case of the "pro -Israel" lobby, the Neocon chicken hawks ( which in many cases are one and the same) and the ever popular "gay rights activists".

With respect to the defend Israel first crowd, and the Neocons who never met a war they didn't approve of, I can think of no one who's opinion I would value less than these folks when it comes to defining our national security interests and how best to protect them. Hagel actually sounds like a breathe of fresh air from the the typical inside the belt way mindset, especially with respect to his willingness to at least consider cuts in the bloated Defense budget, something we all know needs to occur, particularly if we claim to be fiscally conservative.

As for the gay rights activists, put a sock on it. Hagel is being nominated to preside over the nation's military, not champion your social agenda. Obama supports your agenda and the fact that he picked Hagel should be enough to convince you that even if Hagel isn't fully on board, he certainly isn't a closeted gay basher.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Obama, but nominating a guy who rankles the Neocons for defense secretary isn't one of them.

I don't agree that gay activists are opposed to Hagel. In today's Washington Post there's a full page ad bashing Hagel from the Log Cabin Republicans - a ridiculous organization that exists solely to do the bidding of the Republican party. They no more represent the interests of gay Americans than the Republican National Committee.

As I said, the opposition to Hagel is political - 99% of the opposition are Republicans.

Is the department of defense the agency in charge of making Arabs feel good about themselves or do I have them confused with the IRS? No wait. The IRS is in charge of healthcare. NASA? Who gives funding and arms to drug cartels and Islamic fundamentalists and drops $$$ Billions of 'smart bombs' on whoever Obama wants? The FBI or Department of Defense? Who is supposed to defend our borders? Defense? Or Homeland Security? No wait. Homeland security grants administrative amnesty to illegal aliens in violation of current law. It is all so confusing under Obama.

The Israel-firsters hate Hagel because they are afraid they won't be able to lie us into war with Iran as they did with Iraq. They are outraged that Hagel said he was a US senator not an Israeli senator. Hagel's opponents should disclose their conflict of interest, i.e. how much money they get from AIPAC-generated groups in return for signing AIPAC letters and passing AIPAC legislation to the detriment of our national security.